hold out for three

I would like to interrupt my non-blogging to tell you something VERY important.

My oldest baby is about to be three.

I will no longer use the phrase "three under three".

I no longer have three babies in diapers.

I no longer have three babies in cribs.

I've got a baby, a wild woman-animal-of-a-toddler, and a kid.

Now this week we're preparing for a three year old dinosaur blow-out and almost sixteen times a day, Elias asks one of us to show him on the calendar how many days left till his party. But he's so excited and a little confused, because he thinks it's his friend Silas' birthday too, since we just celebrated Silas' birthday in um... December:)

So he says, "FOUR days to my/Silas happy birthday dinosaur party??!!!!!"

Sweet thing.

But this post is just to say, if you have any children under three...

hold out for three.

Babies are WONDERFUL. I used to think I was a baby person.

Toddlers are DELIGHTFUL. Toddlers used to rule my world!

But three, oh three.

Laying in bed with him and singing.

Having him pray for his friends and siblings when they're hurt.

Telling me every little thing that's on his mind.

Drawing dinosaurs in the condensation on car windows.

Handling bodily functions all by himself!

I really feel like I'm turning into a mom, rather than a baby caretaker. Now, I was always a mom and you are too if you have a baby - but something about the act of getting to spend more time shepherding their heart and teaching them, rather than holding and feeding them - that is a really sweet gift from Jesus.

And I'm not even joking. As I sit here typing at 6:29am, he just tiptoed out of his room, over to the couch, and climbed in my lap. As he nuzzled up he said, "It's dark Mommy. Turn lights on." And I giggled. Then he stood and and grabbed my hand and said,

"How many days dinosaur party?!"

And now we're off to check the calendar for the first time of the day.